Summit Cheeseburger

The inaugural event of the first annual Utah Big Lebowski Pageant was held this morning. A weeklong media onslaught and the promise of Cheeseburgers and White Russians (“another Caucasian, Gary”) on the summit of DUDE drew only three Little Lebowski Urban Achievers, sirloinofbeef, WIMPY, and the Old Bull.

An exhaustive study of potential routes gave 3 alternatives: (1) jeep-trail from the west on top of an exposed ridgeline; (2) 3 miles of pavement and a 1 mile ridgeline ascent on a SOUTH-facing slope (3) the “short-cut” northern route along a USGS (1953) certified jeep-trail beginning deep in the shadows of North Canyon. (verified by a satellite photo taken in JULY).

Two pass-bys of the golf course (“obviously, you are not a golfer”), and we found North Canyon. The superior driving skills of SirLoin delivered us through mud and snow to within a mile (0.86 to be exact) of the trailhead, and we began aimless wandering in search of a glimpse of the summit. The only walkable surface was the snow-packed trail leading to Burro and Grandview Peaks, and we resigned ourselves to failure—a booby prize of Cheeseburgers on Rudy Flat. Canyon-bottom claustrophobia inspired an off-trail detour on/under/through hip-deep spring snow to a ridgeline and eventually the summit of 7153’. A glance to the west, and El Duderino was exposed. The final ridge-hop included a scrub-oak bushwhack, punctuated with fresh moose marbles and highlighted by some REALLY BIG kitty tracks.

An official benchmark reading “DUDE” was found, photographically entered into the archives, and the Jeffrey Lebowski celebration began: a menu of nano-Lamberghinis, Carl’s Juniors, and, of course, White Russians (Teton Glacier Vodka/Kahlua mix, Organic Valley HalfnHalf, ice portered by WIMPY, all served in Swiss Army steel cups, finger-stirred). Stunning views in all directions. With lighter packs and lighter heads, the route was retraced.

No Marmots, no Nihilists, no carpets were harmed in this epic pursuit.

My guidebook says "Tryfan is arguably the finest mountain in Snowdonia". I had been awed by the beauty of Tryfan when I drove by on previous days, so I knew that the cheeseburger I took up this mountain had to be worthy.

A great cheeseburger starts with a great burger, so I paid a visit to a butcher with an outstanding reputation... Edwards of Conwy. The burger patty of choice was an 8oz spicy Welsh Lamb burger... mmmmm... spicy lamb! It went on the BBQ about 3:15pm, Welsh Cheddar was added to the B-side, and the burger was wrapped in a crusty bun and packed in my day-pack. At 4pm, we (the cheeseburger and I) started our ascent.

Shortly after 6pm, less than three hours after the cheeseburger came off the grill, we reached the summit, which is notable for two large boulders known locally as Adam and Eve. I placed the cheeseburger on the highest of the two boulders and gave it a few minutes to collect a dusting of Icelandic volcanic ash that has been gently settling on Great Britain this weekend.

While a cheeseburger on a summit is a wonderful thing, it means nothing unless it is consumed, so I set the autotimer on my camera and climbed up the boulder to become one with the cheeseburger, for the sake of the mission.

Note the complete lack of anything in the sky... except volcanic ash. There's been exceptional weather in most of the UK for the past week and then some, with more on the way. And that volcanic ash from Iceland has grounded all flights through UK airspace, so the skies are erily quiet like they were in the US after 9/11. Fortunately, it's only Mother Nature to blame this time, and that makes me one happy hiker!

Cheers!

Krusty Bunz

On an unusually warm spring day, Sam I am, Green Eggs (with Sam) and Sheba (dog) spent several happy hours hiking in the southern Ohio hills at the Fort Hill State Memorial. We hiked the Deer Trail to the top of the "Natural Bridge," made our way down to walk through the water passage that the natural bridge crosses, and then crossed the creek to get on the Gorge Trail. Wet feet for everybody but no complaints. We saw several different varieties of wildflowers. On the return, we diverted off trail to climb to the summit. The last time Sam I am was on the summit there was a maintained trail but that was maybe 40 years ago. On the top of the hill are earthworks built approximately 100 BC to 500 AD. An impressive amount of dirt was moved. The summit is relatively flat and it took some time with the GPS to find the correct coordinates, but upon finding the spot, announcing it and granting permission to consume cheeseburgers, Green Eggs commented that "we had been on the summit for 20 minutes!" It is true the features of the summit coordinates are indistinguishable from any other spot we had been walking over for the previous 20 minutes, but I felt better for the effort. Sheba once again was left out of the cheeseburger eating part of the trip. Poor dog!

For more info on Fort Hill see:

http://ohsweb.ohiohistory.org/places/sw06/index.shtml

This time it was Red Knoll. And yes, it was red. Our last few summits have been Knolls, like:

• Thanksgiving - Salvation Knoll
• Christmas - The Knoll
• Spring Break - Red Knoll

We journeyed down to the San Rafael Swell for some hiking and camping - and also dragged along a few cheeseburgers. After exploring Grotto Canyon and Cottonwood Canyon we started our search for a summit. We drove across the Swell on the Green River Cutoff Road until we reached Red Knoll. It's redness comes from the hundred or so feet of Entrada Sandstone rising from the desert floor. It is almost entirely ringed by overhanging rock around the top, except in a few locations.

Once we made it over the lip, the rest of the knoll was a relatively flat hike.

At the summit we were treated to tremendous views of the swell to the south.

And views of the Red Ledges and Little Cedar Mountain to the west.

Looking north we could see the broad expanse of Cedar Mountain.

At the summit we enjoyed BK Burger Shots with cheese.

We descended the way we came up, being especially careful on the scree ramp running up the side. As we walked cross country back to our car, we spied numerous pottery sherds and arrowhead flakes. I guess we weren't the first to ascend the mighty Red Knoll.

I attempted Elider Fawr about 3 weeks ago. The weather that day had been quite nice on the north coast of Wales, so I decided that a summit cheeseburger hike would be a good way to chase the flu out of my system. 30 minutes from home, at the starting point for my hike, the weather wasn't so nice anymore. The summits were clouded in and the temperature was much cooler. I started off anyway and it wasn't long before the rain was upon me. When I reached the ridge line I was aiming for, the wind was strong and cold, and my flu was thriving. With low visibility, and what I would later learn was about 3 miles to go to the summit, my energy level was dropping fast, so I wolfed down my cheeseburger for fuel and aborted the mission.

Today was a better day! Mostly sunny skies with wisps of high clouds, temperature of 18C at the base, very little wind to speak of, even at the summit, no flu, and a better cheeseburger than last time... today would be a successful summit cheeseburger attempt!

The trail started at Nant Peris with this view of the mountain. Notice that the front of the mountain is being mined for slate... slate mines have long been a part of the economy in this part of Wales.

The trail wandered up through fields shared with sheep and a couple of horses. Most of the ascent was taken care of in the first couple of miles, and from there the trail followed a ridgeline around a horseshoe-shaped gully then finished with an easy scramble to the summit. Not a terribly difficult hike... 6 miles in 3 hours, approximately 800m elevation (the marker on the summit page is a bit off... the summit is actually at 924m)... but it was my first "big" hike of the year, and it offered a fine view of Wales' highest peak, Mt. Snowdon, as seen from the summit with and without cheeseburger:

I'm looking forward to exploring more of Snowdownia National Park over the next few months... with cheeseburgers, naturally.

I would also like to give a shoutout to SirLoinOfBeef and his production crew for the excellent work on the new Summit Cheeseburger website! Way to go!!

Cheers,

Krusty Bunz

Perusing the back yard for the source of those eggs I'd just eaten for breakfast, I noticed Mt. Wire looming above.  I convinced Old Bull to pack up a pair of Lamburghinis and we headed out the front door.  The South Ridge looked to be the most direct approach, but the thigh deep snow drifts (Old Bull's thighs--I'm smart enough to avoid that stuff) moved us on a traverse to the west.  It was slow going through the mahogany forest, but the windswept top made for an easy final 400 yds to the summit.  The approaching storm dampened the views, but I drooled over the herds of mule deer hunkered in the canyons below us.  After a quick lunch, we charged down the sw ridge to Research Park and on to home.   Even got to chase a jackbunny through the scrub before we hit the pavement.  Snow, mud, dust....if there'd been mosquitos, I would have sworn we'd spent a year in Pinedale.

Well I finally made it out and made a summit. I looked up the closest to my house and what do you know, its also the shortest. Strapped on my sandals, grabbed my GPS, and made a stop at an IN-N-OUT. (Double-double no tomatoes, raw onions, and add pickles. I figured they would not all be this easy so I'd do this one right.) Got to the park, hiked a short trail, although the listed coords on the site seem to be on private property, I made my way to the highest point and enjoyed MY 1ST SUMMIT CHEESEBURGER! (I took some pics on my phone and will add at a later date)

I've been on this summit 5 times before today, and Old Bull has always forgotten the Cheeseburgers (Anheiser's Disease).  Finally, on this glorious, first-day-of-spring, I led him from home up the treacherous South Ridge to the rocky crag upon Mt. Van Cott (even got in a 200 yd. rabbit-chase in Research Park).  I was able to ignore the mule deer, cougars, chukars, and marmots long enough to down 2 of his patented Lamberghinis (nano-size, check the top of the water bottle in the accompanying photo).  Following lunch, I dragged his sorry tail on a bushwhack to the northwest ridge and a 4-mile trek home.  Great views in 360 degrees of past and future conquests.

See "2 White Castles = Double the Misery".  Two summits, same hike.